Congratulations to Avondale resident Shedrick J. Figaro, who was installed as the department commander for the State of Louisiana Disabled American Veterans on May 19. Figaro, who is originally from Lafayette, invites all injured veterans to consider becoming a member of the DAV, which the organization describes as the strongest advocate for injured heroes.

For more information, call 504.512.8944 or visit www.davdol.org/joindavdava.

For years, residents have been counting down to the day the Huey P. Long Bridge Widening Project would be complete. While one might think that day had arrived, because there was a formal ceremony recently marking the occasion, residents are still waiting.

The promise of three lanes, significantly wider than before and an emergency/shoulder lane where accidents or breakdowns could be moved to in order to keep traffic flowing is what residents have been anxiously awaiting.

This is a little background of what residents who travel across the river have endured for several years. Construction included delays of 15 minutes to one hour due to lane closures, the closure of all traffic either east or west bound, and sometimes closure of the bridge entirely.

For countless months, if motorists were in Metairie and did not get to the bridge by 10 p.m., they would have to go far out of their way to one of the other bridges to cross the Mississippi River – either through Luling or Gretna.

I spoke with a Waggaman family who had two of three family members who crossed the river daily. The delays were so long that they decided to rent out their home during this time and rented a house in Metairie with the plan to move back after the years of scheduled construction.

The completion day was scheduled for June 16 with a 5K run and ribbon-cutting to mark the occasion.

For one week prior to that date, nearly everywhere I went, residents were commenting on how much work was obviously still not done.

Crunch time came in the seven days leading up to June 16, and that week had motorists at the height of frustration with multiple unexpected lane closures at various hours.

June 16 came and the 5K took place followed by the ribbon-cutting. All lanes were opened that day.

Since that day, there have been lane closures regularly delaying traffic. Each evening from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. there are lane closures, which are scheduled through June 30.

Sandra Smith is a Waggaman resident who writes about people and events of community interest. She can be reached at waggamannews@yahoo.com or 504.343.6916.